Jim Tailor Brings Fine Budget Bespoke to Yashow

The famed Yashow market has been reincarnated after an extensive renovation. There’s something particularly unsettling and even a little creepy about the empty shopping mall that only re-opened to the public about a month ago: lots of shine and polish but not a whole lot of people.

One thing that hasn’t changed with the upgrade, and has maybe even improved, is the assortment of tailors on the fourth floor. This has actually grown in size and includes a more varied assortment of styles, in a cleaned up atmosphere and at more or less the same prices as before. We checked out Jim Tailor, one of the more fashionable options and a new kid on the block, hailing from Tianjin. Sitting just east of the escalator, suits range from RMB 1,000-15,000 and like all tailors, the pricing heavily depends on the quality of the fabric chosen. Options include both imported and domestic fabrics.

They don’t have any style books on hand, but they do have samples set up around the store that you can examine for inspiration. You can also bring a picture along if you already know what you want. After measurements have been taken you will be asked to return seven to 10 days later for a fitting.

In addition to suits, they have custom shoes made from some pretty funky leathers, like fish and crocodile skin, that will set you back anywhere from RMB 5,000-20,000. Most of these looked a little too “pimpy” for our taste, so we passed on the footwear.

One big plus is that the man we talked to spoke decent English, which proved extremely helpful when trying to explain that we needed a Colonel Sanders style suit complete with Kentucky necktie. Don’t ask.

Jim Tailor
Daily 10am-10pm. 4/F, Yashow, Sanlitun, 58 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (6462 6062)
朝阳区工体北路58号三里屯雅秀四层

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Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photos: Kipp Whittaker